PEORIA, Ariz.  Nick Hundley wouldn’t have to look hard to see the future closing in around him.

A few stalls to the right of his locker here at the Padres’ spring training complex sits Yasmani Grandal, the 25-year-old catcher hoping to reclaim the momentum he lost before a PED suspension and later a devastating knee injury derailed him. Across the clubhouse, the game’s top catch-and-throw prospect, Austin Hedges, is soaking up all he can as he prepares to take another leap toward San Diego.

Hundley? He’ll turn 31 in September before time runs out on that three-year extension carrying him toward free agency should the Padres opt against picking up his $5 million team option.

Yes, it’s an uncertain future that’s closing in. Only Hundley doesn’t care as much about where he’s going next year as where he’s at today.

“I’ve wasted a lot of my time and energy on things like that in the past,” Hundley said. “That’s something as I get older, I don’t buy into that. I don’t live at that address. I live at the address of ‘today’ – let’s go to work, let’s get better, let’s compete.”

It’s a simple enough plan.

With a revamped rotation, an emerging corps of bats and health on their side – they hope – the Padres are a chic pick to at least push for a wild-card spot. Maybe more.

That’s where Hundley’s sights are set this spring, too.

Really, looking at anything other than prodding the pitchers toward Opening Day, refining his own receiving game and polishing his approach at the plate would only invite the sort of head games that have dragged Hundley into seemingly never-ending spirals at different points in his career.

Will Grandal again take more at-bats away? How close is Hedges? Will the Padres even have room for him? Will more and more and more time in the cage solve it all?

It could all easily eat at him if he let it. Over time, Hundley has learned to channel his best assets – his headiness, desire and conviction – toward more productive ventures.

“Man, he’s a hard try-er, and a lot of times the harder you try, sometimes it doesn’t work,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “There’s a mental pace that this game has to be played to, and Nick’s figured that out over the last couple of years.”

Pacing, too, could be part of the salve that eases Hundley out of the kind of prolonged slumps that have seen his average plummet from .325 to .238 over a span of 92 at-bats, as it did from the beginning of May to late June of last year. At least that was idea when hitting coach Phil Plantier called for fewer swings – yes, fewer – as he set about cleaning up the shortcomings in Hundley’s approach.

“It was about being efficient,” Plantier said. “Let’s get to the point. Let’s get to taking good swings quicker.”

Hot and cold

The Padres signed Nick Hundley to three-year, $9 million extension in 2012 after he fashioned a .367/.404/.656 batting line after the All-Star break in 2011. Since then, the 30-year-old catcher has shown a propensity for high peaks and deep valleys during seasons. Here’s a look at the monthly splits for Hundley’s six-year career:

March/April | .274 AVG / .344 OBP / .448 SLG

May | .189 AVG / .268 OBP / .295 SLG

June | .181 AVG / .247 OBP / .274 SLG

July | .238 AVG / .292 OBP / .392 SLG

August | .235 AVG / .279 OBP / .458 SLG

In other words: Get to work, get to getting better and get to competing.

Really, get to “today.” Whatever distractions pile up around Hundley this year – and they will, as they always do – Hundley won’t stray far from his address.

“My only focus is on improving my game,” Hundley said. “Whether I catch 162 games or 100 or 80 or whatever, whatever Bud Black and the staff deem necessary, I’m ready to do it. I’m ready to catch every day.